Cummins has released preliminary renderings of their new $30 million Indianapolis headquarters designed by New York-based Deborah Berke Partners. The news comes shortly after the diesel engine manufacture had announced plans to transform a four-acre downtown site in the heart of the Market East cultural district into a 10-story office building and public park.

Dundee, Bilbao, Curitiba, Helsinki and Turin are often considered the cultural epicenters of their respected countries. Therefore it is no surprise that these five metropolises are the latest to achieve UNESCO’s City of Design status. Joining a list of 12 other cities, the newest City of Design selections are being recognized for the international influence on design. By awarding them “City of Design” status, UNESCO hopes to help further the development of creative industries and encourage cross-city cultural exchange in each selected metropolis.

BIG’s winning design for the Rebuild by Design competition, the BIG “U”. Image Courtesy of rebuildbydesign.org

The Rockefeller Foundation has announced the next group of cities that will be part of the 100 Resilient Cities Challenge, which aims to help prepare cities from around the world for the social, economic and physical challenges of the 21st century. After reviewing close to 350 applications from 90 countries across six continents, the Rockefeller Foundation selected 35 cities to join the 32 cities that were announced last year. The cities selected are addressing numerous challenges, ranging from flooding and extreme weather events to economic stress and strains on infrastructure and health systems, according to a press release.

“When you think about what makes a resilient city, you have to think in holistic terms. The reality is that resilience building is a multi-sector, multi-level kind of enterprise,” President of 100 Resilient Cities, Michael Berkowitz, told us earlier this year at the start of the inaugural Chief Resilience Officer summit in New Orleans.

Each city selected receives funding to hire a Chief Resilience Officer and assistance in developing and implementing a resilience strategy. Read on after the break to see which 35 cities were selected.

SCAPE / Landscape Architecture and Rogers Partners have envisioned a new public gateway for the Mississippi River’s “one true waterfall” - St. Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis. Named after being the city’s original site for its 19th-century water supply and fire-fighting pumping stations, “Water Works” is designed to “weave” together heritage ruins, local ecology, and recreational systems into a “coherent civic space” on four-acres of Central Riverfront.

A new, 40,000-seat stadium has been unveiled in preparation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Planned for Qatar’s Education City, the home of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), the “Qatar Foundation Stadium” is the fourth stadium design that has been released by the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC).

The structure is intended to reference Islamic architecture. Both the interior and exterior will be clad in translucent triangular panels whose color and patterns will shift throughout the day, depending on the position of the sun and influence of artificial illumination which will reflect the events happening from within the stadium.

Speaking to The Guardian, David Chipperfield has stated that he regards the hold of private investment over new architecture in London as an "absolutely terrible" means of building a city. He argues that Berlin - where he spends considerable amounts of time and runs a large office - "is a much more reflective society than ours" because the UK has sunk into "a success-based culture."

To celebrate the first anniversary of our US Materials Catalog, this week ArchDaily is presenting a three-part series on "Material Masters," showing how certain materials have helped to inspire some of the world's greatest architects.

Le Corbusier's love affair with concrete, evident in a number of his nearly 75 projects, began early. Having already designed his first house, the Villa Fallet, at the age of just 17, in 1907 the young architect embarked on a series of travels throughout central Europe on a mission of artistic education. In Paris, he apprenticed at the office of Auguste Perret, a structural rationalist and pioneer of reinforced concrete, followed in 1910 by a short stint at Peter Behrens' practice in Berlin. These formative experiences initiated a life-long exploration of concrete in Le Corbusier’s work.

Have you ever wanted to see your un-built or fantasy project brought to life through the lens of a virtual reality headset? We’ve teamed up with IIDEXCanada and Invent Dev for the ArchDaily + IIDEXCanada Virtual Spaces Competition, which aims to find the best un-built and fantasy projects. Designers and architects can submit images of renderings of their un-built and fantasy projects across three square-footage categories. The winners will have their designs developed into virtual spaces by Invent Dev and exhibited using virtual reality headsets at IIDEXCanada 2015 in Toronto. Winners will also be featured on ArchDaily and flown to the 2015 awards ceremony.

IIDEXCanada and The Buildings Show are North America’s largest annual exposition, networking and educational event for construction, design, and real estate professionals.

Learn more and find out how to enter the competition after the break.

http://www.archdaily.com/574978/archdaily-iidexcanada-launch-virtual-spaces-competitionAD Editorial Team